A Happy Hour at Decarli with a pizzetta with prosciutto, taleggio, arugula, shaved grana padano, olive oil. I have never gone wrong with any pizza that had arugula.

As a side note, boy is happy hour at Decarli popular! You have to be there, standing in line, before they open for happy hour at 4:30 or good luck finding a seat. Fortunately the bar service is very fast and friendly, the drinks are good, the food is good… so I can see why the crowd that fills up the bar area right away. Price-wise it’s not as competitive as what you could find downtown… but since we are talking about Beaverton here for the location, but with the atmosphere and offerings like it’s a chic downtown place, not having to go through the logistics of going all the way downtown is worth those extra few dollars if you live or live/work in the area. Actually compared to any other major city, the HH is more than fair price anyway, we’re a bit Portland spoiled.

If you do stop by Decarli’s, I recommend sitting at the bar for the best service and so you can watch the drink making action, and besides the pizzetta I also really like their polenta fries, as I wrote and photographed about in this previous visit. The burger I saw a coworker ate also looked tempting, though I was not as impressed with the panini I had that visit.

In other food porn, I decided to share a few photos of other awesome food memories of pizzas in my past eatings…

• Tarte Flambee Pear, Bleu Cheese, Walnut, and Garlic Chip (“classic Alsace style pizza”) from Brasserie Jo in Chicago (restaurant closed).
• A Mano restaurant (since closed) in Chicago’s $5 wood oven pizza of Wild Mushroom & Caramelized Onion, White Truffle Oil, Taleggio Cheese, Hazelnuts and Oregano.
• Chicago’s Scoozi: the restaurant is famous for their white pizza, the shot is their asparagus with roasted garlic, aged parmesan, and truffle oil pizza.
• Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder‘s half pounder pizza pot pie… I can’t believe I don’t have any photos of any deep dish pizza from Chicago. Must be corrected next time.
• And, all the way from Boston, Bertucci’s pizza “Carmine” I was recommended, with Fresh mozzarella balls, Romano cheese and caramelized onions with roasted tomato sauce.

All in Portland….

• Pyro Pizza‘s (located in Cartopia)Italian style wood oven fired (but from a food cart!) White Truffle pizza that has white truffle oil brushed on the dough and then is topped with romano cheese and a dash of black pepper. If you go, remember to ask to add as an additional topping basil or sundried tomatoes!
• And, Nostrana’s Funghi Verde pizza with shiitake mushrooms, house mozzarella, garlic, arugula, pecorino sardo, lemon oil…. served with shears to cut your slices.
• Gruner appetizer of tarte flambee “bonne anee”- alsatian pizza with sweet onions, maine lobster, smoky bacon, fromage blanc & chives
• Finally, Deschutes’ Brewery Portland Pub‘s grilled washington pear and goat cheese pizza:Spent Grain Dough topped with Pears, Goat Cheese, Mozzarella and Hazelnuts. Topped with Fresh Arugula tossed in White Balsamic Dressing.